What I’m Reading
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The pandemic has highlighted how many office buildings need to be renovated in order to fit the needs to today’s workers and companies. However, the supply chain crisis and labor shortage means that it has never been more expensive to do so. Bisnow
Rise of the Machines: Recent supply chain problems have accelerated the trend towards automation in the warehouse sector, with occupiers making large capex investments in order to future proof their facilities. National Law Review
No Easy Answer: There is a growing narrative that shippers simply need to steer clear of the backed-up Ports of LA and Long Beach – and utilize less congested alternatives – in order to alleviate supply chain pressure. But these smaller ports often do not have the trucking and rail infrastructure or nearby warehouse capacity to allow for substantially increased volume. Wall Street Journal
Under the Radar: Smaller, grocery anchored centers have dominated retail investment demand of late. At the same time, lifestyle centers that bring together retail, office, multi-housing and hospitality space are experiencing increased foot traffic, declining vacancies and growing rental rates. A recent JLL report points out that they may be one of the most undervalued retail asset classes at the moment. Globe Street
Levering Up: Private equity firms are borrowing money at a record rate to pay owners a dividend, rather than invest in a portfolio company’s growth. Wall Street Journal
Charts of the Day
All of the folks talking about sustained inflationary pressures should be aware of this:
Fiscal tailwinds are going to become significant headwinds in 2022.
Goldman Sachs expects that the supply constrained sectors of the economy will start dragging inflation down around next May and will continue to become a bigger drag as the year continues. Yes, there will still be pressures (think OER) but many of the logistics issues wreaking havoc on the system should resolve sometime in the middle of 2022.
Source: Pragmatic Capitalism
WTF
Take That: A 20 year old woman was arrested for hitting her mother in the head with two tacos during an argument over eh cleanliness of their house because Florida. (h/t Steve Sims) The Smoking Gun
Fish in a Barrel: A man who crashed into a sheriff’s patrol car was arrested for DUI because Florida. First Coast News
Basis Points – A candid look at the economy, real estate, and other things sometimes related.
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